Over the weekend my friend Andrius asked me about Crossfit, given its popularity among BJJers and mixed martial artists. What I told him (or rather, what I hope I conveyed) amounted to the following:
1. Crossfit has a lot of good things going for it: It promotes athleticism, community, benchmarking, and it’s undeniably fun. They place a huge emphasis on technical mastery and on understanding exercise, nutrition, and physical performance on a deeper level than your average “one more rep” trainer, which is excellent. Certainly has a lot to give for the guy or gal who’s been strength training for a long time and may be getting a little sick and tired of the old “squat-deadlift-bench” thing. And you can’t fault a community that promotes low-carb eating.
2. Crossfit can be dangerous as it incorporates Olympic lifts, ballistic movements, and repeated maximal efforts. Unless you took the time to learn the fundamentals and scaled the workouts properly, you could be in for it. Even experienced Crossfitters, in their zeal for better performances, injure themselves (just check out the Injuries subforum on the Crossfit site).
Their offical mascot is “Pukie the Clown”, for heavens’ sake. This is not an exercise protocol for the faint-hearted.
Admittedly, for a guy who studies BJJ, this is almost akin to talking out of both sides of my mouth. And yes, you can get hurt doing just about anything if you don’t scale properly (like slow-lifting 500 lbs on your first try). Just like the stock market – higher gain, higher risk. And while I don’t think Crossfit is geared towards your average 55 year old overweight, pre-diabetic, sedentary individual, some of them will gravitate towards it – so I think it’s a point worth making.
3. The third – and biggest – misgiving I had about Crossfit is its random programming. Yes, I know Coach Glassman is running microcycles within his macrocycles; yes, I know that the overall framework has an emphasis on improving the glycolytic system; and yes, I can appreciate the metabolic, strength, and strength endurance combinations – but what’s readily apparent to even a casual visitor of the Crossfit site is that the workouts are random, and that’s not good for adaptation (a classic law of exercise science dictates that if training demands are switched around too often, the body resists adaptation – IOW it gets “confused” as to what to adapt to, so it doesn’t).
This is not to imply that Crossfit isn’t useful or doesn’t do anything; obviously it does or it wouldn’t be as widespread as it is. What it does imply is:
- It’s best if you’re an already accomplished athlete with a strong base in strength and sport skill.
- Random programming is less than optimal (in terms of adaptation) than trying to specifically increase a particular aspect of training (strength, endurance, etc.).
- Training to be a jack of all trades makes you a master of none. Which is totally fine if that’s your goal, but lots of folks would be better off specializing, especially beginners.
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So brings us to the point of our post – chaos theory. After this discussion with Andrius I thought about Crossfit and how its (seemingly) random workouts reminded me of chaos theory. Most people are familiar with the term chaos theory (systems that look random, but are deterministic). Well, Crossfit is the Mandelbrot set of exercise – seemingly random, but with an overall goal: To train the glycolytic (read: short, intense bursts of energy) system.
Chaos theory is neat to observe, fun to think about, but for the best results in your exercise program, approach attribute improvement with focus. You want to get stronger? Focus on training for strength. Want to get leaner? Eat properly and lift weights. Want to win the Pan Ams? Get yer duff on the mats and lift weights.
Edit (9/3/08): On an unrelated note, someone just sent this article to me. I side with Gray Cook – Crossfit is not necessarily dangerous unless you try to do too much too soon, just the same as any other intense activity.
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{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
I’m interested to see what the comments are like to follow this article. Fellow HITer Drew Baye blogged on CrossFit, and even suggested doing a safer HIT version of the workouts, and CrossFit followers left some angry replies. Good article though…I enjoyed it and, of course, agree.
It’s also interesting that you talked about them today, and the CrossFitNYC blog linked to one of your older posts today.
Sean –
I’m waiting for the deluge.
Lisa -
Ha! Ain’t the universe grand?
Hey Eugene:
Excellent post, I am really enjoying your blog.
You posted this statement:
“a classic law of exercise science dictates that if training demands are switched around too often, the body resists adaptation – IOW it gets “confused” as to what to adapt to, so it doesn’t”
I’m curious to what classic law of exercise science you are referring to?
Be Well
Dave –
I didn’t remember the name of it at the time and so I left it non-specific, knowing someone was going to call me on it once I posted it to the blog:)
Verkoshansky and Siff call it transient accumulation. If too little time is devoted to development of motor abilities (read: learning the exercises) actual biochemical changes minimally occur (since you’re just “learning” the exercise neurologically).
Enoka doesn’t mention it in his kinesiology text but I’m certain I read that in the first 1-2 weeks of an exercise program, nearly all improvements in a novice are neurological – in other words, they “learned how to do the exercise properly.” After that initial period is when the real lion’s share of actual physiological changes begin.
Thanks for the comment, hope this answers your question.
Hi,
I’m not convinced that CrossFit’s programming is random (although their hopper-style workouts seem to be). It appears that they are really varied, but deterministically created. For an example of random programming, check out my page at http://www.statisticool.com/weightedexercise.htm
Of course it can be edited with exercises you are interested in doing.
Justin
A closer look at Crossfit will reveal that the exercises are to be scaled to your ablitiy/fitness level. Crossfit also makes a pint of having those who use the program practice the proper techniques fro each exercise. Crossfit encourages atheletes who train crossfit style to do other sports as well as the crossfit program. If these things are done the neurologic pathways are developed and specific areas of strength/endurance/power can be improved along with overall fitness.
@Justin
Just taking creative license in calling it random. I allude to the fact that Glassman has a master plan he’s following, but if you think about it, the workouts progress in and of themselves simply by you doing better on them as you grow fitter. IOW, the first time you go through “Fran” maybe you get 12:36; the next time, 10:09; the next…and so on until you’re blazing through it in less than 4 minutes.
@Mark
Of course there’s scaling. I didn’t mean to imply that you just jump into the WODs, as prescribed, never having done a kettlebell snatch or handstand pushups before. Nor do I imply that Crossfit coaches have no regard for form and technique (quite the opposite – I’m VERY impressed at the resources Coach Glassman makes available to the anonymous Internet trainee).
Here’s the thing: Every training methodology (read: trend) gets promoted as the end-all be-all of fitness. Sometimes (rarely) they’re worth writing home about. Crossfit is one of those rare exceptions; except, it isn’t all things for all trainees. Will you get fit? Certainly. Will you get stronger? Likely. Is it the most efficient way to do either? I’d say no.
“Crossfit encourages atheletes who train crossfit style to do other sports as well as the crossfit program. If these things are done the neurologic pathways are developed and specific areas of strength/endurance/power can be improved along with overall fitness.”
Here you show you have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about.
If I’m translating correctly, what I think you meant to say is: “Crossfit coaches say to get better at your sport, practice your sport and use Crossfit for conditioning.” If that’s what you meant, then right on.
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